Word Choice
by PrivatePracticePrincess
Summary: After getting in trouble at school, Jane and Maura sit their daughter down for a little talk.


**A/N: ****_This is based on a little something I wrote for a caption contest on Tumblr. Surprisingly, it got a pretty big response, and a lot of people asked me turn it into a story. So, here you go!_**

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Jane walked through the front door of her house and heard the sound of her wife's voice coming from the living room. She continued to walk closer to the voice, then peeked her head around the corner to find a find a very frantic Maura pacing the room.

"Yes Sir. I completely agree." Jane heard her say.

Figuring Maura was on an important phone call, Jane decided not to bother her, and proceeded up the stairs to find her daughter.

On most days, when Jane got home at a decent hour, she would find her daughter playing in the backyard, being watched closely by Maura, or watching cartoons before it was time to eat dinner.

But today was different.

After looking out the window and not seeing a miniature version of herself running around like a wild animal in the backyard, Jane figured she'd find her daughter in her bedroom.

When she reached the top of the stairs, she turned the corner and headed for her daughter's room. Jane was just about to open the door when she heard the adorable sound of her daughter attempting to pronounce a big word. She leaned in and pressed her ear to the door so she could hear better.

"Uh… uh bomb- abom… abomnin- abomeninin uh bowl… abomeninable"

As she continued to listen, she knew exactly what her daughter was trying to say. Jane didn't have to see the little girl's face to know she was in there with her little nose scrunched up, and her brows furrowed with an intense look of concentration. Much like Maura's. The sound of this soft, yet determined, voice was easily one of the cutest things she'd ever heard.

"Abominable!" The little girl said confidently, finally getting the word right. "Ajative. Very bad, poor, or dis- disa… dis a _gree_ a bowl. Disagreeable."

_"_What the hell?" Jane whispered to herself as she started to piece together what was happening on the other side of the door.

She finally turned the knob, swung the door open.

Her suspicions as to what her daughter was doing were confirmed when she saw the five-year-old sitting on her bed reading a dictionary that was almost the size of her. This had to be Maura's doing.

"Mama!" The little girl grinned, looking up from the giant book in her lap.

"Hey, JoJo!" Jane smiled back, walking over to the bed.

When Maura insisted on using Jane's egg to have their first child, the detective warned her wife about what she was getting herself into. Jane informed Maura of how stubborn and crazy she was as a child, but the ME didn't care. She loved the idea of having a miniature Jane running around their house.

From the second Josie Lynn was born, there was no doubt she had inherited her mama's strong genes. She had it all. The big brown eyes, the unruly dark hair, a strong jawline, and a dimpled chin. She was definitely a Rizzoli. But what her parents realized as they watched their little girl grow up, was that she wasn't as much like Jane as they thought she would be. Sure, she had her moments when she threw tantrums and didn't want to do as she was told, but those moments were few and far in-between.

Josie developed her own unique personality. She had an imagination like no other and always wore a smile that showed off her deep dimples. She could talk your ear off with her soft-spoken voice if you got her going about something she really liked, much like Maura, and she wasn't afraid to stand up for herself and speak her mind if someone did something that upset her, much like Jane. She was a smart kid, and even though she excelled in math and reading, she'd much rather be drawing colorful pictures or pretending to be the 'pirate princess' of her castle swing set. As of now, the little girl showed no interest in following in her parents' footsteps of becoming a homicide detective or a medical examiner. In fact, Jane was almost certain her daughter would end up with a career in theater, or something along those lines.

When Jane reached the bed, she sat down, and kissed her daughter's forehead. "How was school today, bug?" Jane asked.

"It was good. Nothin' happened at recess." She replied quickly.

Jane raised an eyebrow at the little girl's response.

"Really?" She asked skeptically.

"Yup. Nothin'." She answered, unconvincingly.

Josie was also a terrible liar, just like Maura. Although, she didn't break out into hives, she would get really nervous when lying, which always gave her away.

"Okay then." Jane chuckled.

Since Josie wasn't one to get in trouble, Jane assumed that whatever happened at recess wasn't a big deal, and decided to move on from the subject.

Jane reached over and pulled the huge dictionary off of her daughter's lap.

"How about we take a break from reading and have a little Mama and JoJo time. We could make another maze for Bass, or an obstacle course for Jo Friday." Jane suggested. "How does that sound?"

Josie looked up at Jane and frowned.

"Mommy said I can't leave my room 'til I finish this whole page."

"Well that's ridiculous. I think Mommy is coo coo for cocoa puffs." Jane joked, making circles around her ear with her index finger, signaling that Maura was nuts.

Her comment made Josie laugh that adorable little laugh the Jane loved so much. That laugh was one of her many weaknesses.

"I'll go downstairs to talk to her, and you start collecting things to for the obstacle course." Jane said, making her way out of the room. "But, remember not to use Mommy's shoe boxes. She wasn't too happy about that last time."

* * *

Jane entered the living room just as Maura was hanging up the phone. The doctor turned around when she heard her wife's footsteps.

"Maura, why the hell was our five-year-old daughter sitting in her bedroom reading a dictionary?"

"Well _Jane," _Maura said pointedly,_ "_that is her punishment. I got a call from her school today saying that she cussed out a couple of boys at recess who wouldn't let her play kickball with them. She then justified her actions by telling the principal that 'when somebody is being a jackass, you just gotta cuss 'em out and move on'. Do you know who she might have gotten that idea from?" Maura asked, resting her hands on her hips.

Jane looked down at her feet, knowing exactly where her daughter had heard that phrase.

"No…"

Maura raised her eyebrow at her wife and took a step closer. "Are you sure about that?"

"It wasn't me, I swear!" Jane threw her hands in the air as if she was surrendering. "I bet Bass has something to do with this. I heard Josie having a pretty serious discussion with him a few weeks ago, so I bet he told her that. It _totally_ sounds like something he would say."

Jane grinned at her statement, but as soon as she saw the look on Maura's face, the grin slowly disappeared.

"I don't know why you think this is so funny, Jane!"

"Calm down, babe. It's not like she cussed at those boys just for the heck it. They deserved it! Those little shits were being mean to her."

"Using foul language like that is what got us here in the first place!" Maura raised her voice and pointed a finger at the detective. "I have told you countless times to watch what you say around her. You know she picks up everything!"

"Yea, I get that Maur, and I really am sorry, but aren't you the slightest bit proud of her?" Jane asked, inching closer to the ME. "She is _great_ kid, and she hardly ever gets in trouble. She was just trying to stand up for herself."

"I realize that, but she needs to understand that what she did will not be tolerated. If we don't discipline her, she's going to think it's okay, and she'll do it again. I will not have my daughter going around cussing people out! I wish you would understand that, instead of encouraging her behavior."

"I'm not encouraging her behavior, Maura! I'm just saying that you shouldn't be so hard on her. I mean, making her read a dictionary? Seriously?"

Maura looked down at the floor with a guilty look on her face.

"I thought that was a rather clever punishment."

Jane closed the gap between her and her wife, and pulled her into a hug.

"I bet you did, sweetie." Jane chuckled and kissed the blonde's temple.

Just then, Josie came into the room with an armful of stuff, ready to make an obstacle course for Jo Friday.

"Mama, I got bunches of stuff for-"

The little girl stopped short when she saw her parents deep in conversation. She figured they were discussing what she did at school, so she turned around and started to run off toward the stairs.

"Hold it right there, little missy!" Jane yelled playfully.

She stopped in her tracks, but didn't turn around.

"Come here please, Josie." Maura said, in a more serious voice than her wife.

Josie placed all the items in her hands on the floor, then walked towards her parents with her head hung low.

Jane picked her daughter up and sat her down on the couch. She knelt down in front of her tiny clone while Maura sat down on the couch next to her.

"Sweetheart, I know your Mama and I always tell you how important it is to stand up for your self," Maura began, "but using bad language is not the way you should go about doing that."

"But Mama said, 'if someone is being a-'"

"Yea, I know what I said, but that was meant for Uncle Frankie's ears only." Jane cut her off before the little girl she could finish the phrase. "Look, the point is, I shouldn't have said it, and I don't want you to repeat it ever again. There are better words that we should use to express our feelings."

"Like abominable?" Josie asked, remembering the word she had just learned from the dictionary.

"Yes, exactly," Maura chuckled. "You could say those boys were abominable."

"Those boys were abominable." Josie huffed. "Abominable Jackasses!"

Jane bit her lip, trying her hardest not laugh, and all Maura could do was shake her head.

The entire conversation they'd just had was thrown out the window.

"Great." Maura murmured, burying her face in the palm of her hand. "Back to square one."

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**_I hope you guys liked this! I had a lot of fun writing it :)_**

**_Please review!_**


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